A public discussion is taking place in the sessions’ hall of Armenia’s National Assembly Tuesday regarding the case of the tragedy that had occurred on March 1, 2008 in capital Yerevan.

MPs of the ruling Civil Contract faction, as well as members of the government and various NGOs, are participating in the discussion.

Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had issued its judgment in the case of Farmanyan and Others v. Armenia, which concerns the deaths of 10 people during the dispersal of mass protest demonstrations in Yerevan on March 1–2, 2008. The ECtHR’s decision was posted on its official website.

Accordingly, the ECtHR unanimously had ruled that the Armenian authorities had violated the right to life of most of the casualties and pointed to the ineffectiveness of the investigation of this tragedy.

The ECtHR had found, in particular, that the Armenian state had not ensured an objective and comprehensive investigation and, also, failed to comply with its obligations to cooperate with the ECtHR, thereby violating Article 38 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Within the scope of its judgment, the ECtHR had ordered Armenia to pay each of the applicants—i.e. the casualties’ relatives—30,000 euros in compensation for moral damages. Additionally, 35,000 euros were requested to cover legal costs.

 Commenting on this decision, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had stated that the ECtHR had “recorded only the obvious.” According to the PM, the case had already been resolved on ‘March 1’ and its materials are being examined in national courts.

Eight protesters and two servicemen of the Internal Troops of Armenia were killed on March 1, 2008, during the clashes in downtown Yerevan between the authorities and the opposition.